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The Japanese Engine
The Japanese Engine is, on pure speed, the fastest engine. However, his abilities tend to make him rash and less tactical than other engines. This means he is easily pushed into over-extending himself and crashing out of control. Role In the original London story, the Japanese Engine raced with C.B. in heat 1, but once the brake truck was cut in the 1992 revamp, he raced with Krupp. In most productions, he races with Volta, in Heat 1. However through the drama of the race, Caboose pushes her aside, and steals her place. The Japanese Engine continues the race with Caboose, but the brake truck fails to slow him down in time for a crucial turn just before the end of the race, causing him to crash spectacularly. The recent tours using the 3D footage partner him with Buffy. Name history In the original production, the Japanese Engine was called "Hashamoto". The 1992 re-vamp changed the name to "Nintendo" in all English language productions, whereas in Germany he kept the original name "Hashamoto". In Japan and Australia, however, there were two Shinkansen engines - one called "Hashimoto" and the other was "Nakamura" (in 1987) or "Yamamoto" (in 1990). In 2018, the Bochum production underwent significant revisions for the show's 30th anniversary. The Japanese Engine was re-branded "Manga", and given a predominantly silver colour scheme, with yellow highlights. In John Napier's original designs, the Japanese engine is labelled as "Yoshimoto". Appearance Hashamoto Design 2.jpg Hashamoto Design 1.jpg|Original Design, 1984 In London, all the Nationals wore similar costumes of coloured stripes and boxes painted with allusions to their real-world engines, but far from direct models. The feeling was of a set of toy engines Control has carefully painted to represent the different countries. Hashamoto was yellow and white stripes, with the Japanese flag on his chest and back. The Broadway transfer saw a major overhaul in the Engine's costumes, with significantly more budget and the goal to make them bigger and more impressive. Hashamoto developed more of the aerodynamic curves of the Bullet Train. The Broadway costumes went on to be used for the US tour and Las Vegas productions. Once the show went to Germany and the Japan/Australia tours, he was re-coloured from yellow to blue. When the 3D races were being filmed for the 2003 US Tour, the production company used old blue German costumes that could be broken down for the filming. This brought the US tour costumes in line with the German as the costumes onstage had to match the ones on film. Gallery Nintendo Richard Twyman L98 17.png|Nintendo, London Nintendo Us93 Bob Lee Dysinger.jpg|Nintendo, US Tour Hashamoto Kouta Otsuka AC.jpg|Hashamoto, Germany Manga Carrie Finale Couples b18.jpg|Manga, Germany 2018 Cast London Broadway Japan / Australia Tours Bochum, Germany US Tour 1989 - 1991 Las Vegas 1993 - 1997 US Tour 2003 - 2004 UK Tours 2004 - 2008 NZ Tour 2009 UK Tour 2012-2013 Trivia While Control describes Hashamoto as one of the "champion engines of the world," bullet trains are technically Electric-Multiple Units (EMU's) , meaning they are powered by "self-propelled carriages" rather than a locomotive. When the show opened in 1984, there were two models of Shinkansen that Hashamoto could have been designed after: the 0 series, capable of 140 mph, and the 200 series, which could reach speeds between 130 mph to 171 mph, depending on the built date. "Hashamoto" is actually a misspelling of an actual Japanese surname. The Australia/Japan Tour changed it to the proper spelling "Hashimoto." "Yamamoto" (the second Shinkansen from the 2nd Japan Tour) also uses a Japanese surname. Category:Characters Category:Nationals